From the Mogilev Industrial Park to a major logistics center and the country's first "Process Factory": the free economic zone "Mogilev" is constantly in motion, exploring new areas of activity. About which projects started this year, how the zone performed after nine months, and why investors from Turkey, China, Russia, and Belarus choose Mogilev - these are the topics of an interview with the head of the Mogilev SEZ administration, Pavl Marinenko.

• Pavl Leonidovich, what does the Mogilev SEZ represent today?
• In our free economic zone, as of today, 60 residents are registered, the 60th being a company with Chinese capital. This is a significant step in developing Belarus-China relations. From this list, eight organizations operating here with a state share are under departmental subordination. Production is carried out by 45 residents, the rest are in a pre-investment stage and in the construction phase.
• Soon the work for the year will be summarized. How did the Mogilev SEZ work?
• Over the past nine months of this year, exports by organizations without departmental subordination amounted to nearly 105% of the corresponding period of 2025, investments in main capital at comparable prices - 124.5% of the analogous period of last year. The nominal average monthly wage by the end of work for January through September 2026 at the Mogilev SEZ is just over 2.6 thousand rubles.
• Export of goods, access to new markets - how are things here?
• During the specified period, we exported goods worth $886 million. The geography of sales markets for residents currently includes 38 countries in the world. The share of exports to the EAEU market amounted to slightly over 89%. Exports of goods to Turkey increased by almost 38%, to Slovakia by 19%, to Azerbaijan by almost 29%, to Germany by almost 44%. Exports to Serbia increased by 1.8 times, to Romania by 2.2 times, to Turkmenistan by 2 times. The trade surplus of all goods at the Mogilev SEZ is positive and amounts to nearly $300 million. We conduct constant work in representing the interests of residents, promoting their products, and implementing cooperative projects.
• How many new residents appeared this year and what is the investment volume? And how many new jobs will appear thanks to the implementation of their projects?

— In 2026, nine new residents with capital from Turkey, China, Russia and Belarus have already been registered. The total investment volume amounted to 19.2 million euros. The new companies plan to create about 130 jobs. Their activities are directed at the production of mobile sports complexes, windows and doors from aluminum profiles, innovative biodegradable nonwoven materials, cargo chassis, fasteners, leather products and protein products from deep processing of animal hides, as well as the organization of services for storing goods in refrigerated and cold storage warehouses. As a result of the nine months of the Special Economic Zone "Mogilev", it leads the country in the number of registered residents. For us this is an important indicator, it shows that investors are interested in our proposals, they trust us and are ready to work with us.

— One of the most important projects for us in the near future is the creation of the Mogilev Industrial Park. The total area of the objects is about 161 thousand square meters, while the production areas of the polyester fiber plant with a total area of 41.7 thousand square meters are already being used by five residents of the Special Economic Zone "Mogilev". Currently, five investment projects with a total need of at least 20 thousand square meters of production areas are under development. This year we have entered a new stage of development: in addition to traditional production projects, creating large-scale logistics infrastructure oriented at cooperation with China has become a key direction.

— The Special Economic Zone "Mogilev" is actively working with Chinese partners. Agreements have been concluded for the creation of the Henan province industrial park in the Mogilev region, industrial areas and conditions for Chinese partners have been determined. Also, a logistics center is planned to be placed, which will allow optimizing costs for delivery of components as well as export of both Chinese and Belarusian companies.

— At the beginning of this year, the Center of Competencies for Improving Labor Productivity was created. How is the work being carried out in this direction and what results are already available?